Jurors sob as heartbreaking audio of child’s murder is played – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

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After being warned since the start of the trial that it would include graphic testimony, including audio of the murder of Athena Strand, Judge George Gallagher warned the courtroom on Thursday that this was their last chance to leave before that chilling recording was played for the jury.

“If you think you cannot watch it or listen to it, leave now. Now’s your time to get out,” Gallagher told the courtroom.

Prosecutors played excerpts of the video in court, including what they said showed Horner driving past Athena Strand’s home while police and family searched for her. According to testimony in court, he stopped and was told a 7-year-old had been taken.

“Are you serious?” he responded.

The court also heard details from a video recorded the day before inside his delivery truck, when prosecutors said FedEx surveillance cameras captured Horner kidnapping and attacking Strand.

Athena’s parents left the courtroom before those videos were played.

Jurors watched the video that showed Horner pull up to Athena’s home and look around before getting out, according to the proceedings in court. A few minutes later, he was seen walking past the van, with Athena walking behind him. She was then seen standing behind the van and peering inside before Horner picked her up, put her inside and shut the truck’s door.

Jurors then heard audio from inside the truck, where Athena repeatedly asked him the same question: “Are you a kidnapper?” she said.

Jurors also heard Horner threaten to hurt her if she screamed. Some of Athena’s extended family, who stayed to listen to parts of the recording, then left the courtroom.

Before he covered the camera inside the truck, Horner made a chilling statement: “You’re really pretty. You know that?”

Jurors later heard Horner tell Athena to take her shirt off and her say “no” while asking for her mom. The audio from the attack continued for more than an hour and included crying, screaming and banging.

Jurors were visibly shaken and sobbing. For at least part of the recording, Horner was seen with his head down.

The video evidence was not the only testimony presented Thursday. Athena’s father, Jacob Strand, also took the stand.

Strand testified about how his daughter’s murder affected his life, saying he turned to alcohol and that it ruined his marriage. He said, as a man and as her father, he feels like he should have been there to protect his child.

“It made me feel horrible,” Strand said. “You know, like, I should have done something or been there. I wasn’t there to protect them like I should be, like a father’s role.”

Strand went on to describe the guilt he felt after Athena’s death and how he handled his pain and trauma through “self-destruction.” Strand said he “just kind of held everything in,” and he told the jury that he turned to alcohol. He said her death ruined his marriage, that he couldn’t sleep, and that he “lost, like 50 pounds” because he “would only eat, like, every seven days.”

He said that Athena’s sister was in therapy after Athena’s death, and that she recently returned to therapy because she had been having nightmares about “everything that she’s having to hear about and what happened to her sister.”

The jury will return to the courtroom on Wednesday when the defense will begin presenting its case. On Friday, Monday and Tuesday, the judge and the attorneys are expected to be in court for procedural hearings where they will presumably discuss questions of law and objections to evidence or testimony related to the defense, without the jury hearing potentially prejudicial information.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.